EAPC Defence Ministerial Session Brussels, 12 June 1998

Address by the Minister of Defence of the Slovak Republic, Jn Sitek Results that the Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council (EAPC) had achieved during the first year of its work are appreciated positively in the Slovak Republic. Experience had shown, that the principles, upon which the Council stands might contribute not only to broadening the base for political dialogue and consultations but also to the further development of partner military cooperation. Broad scale of activities included into the action plan and partner programs forms appropriate room for harmonising our national interests with the common goals in the area of security and stability in Europe. In this respect I wish to appreciate incentives, resulting from the complicity of partner countries at the function of individual organs and committees of the Alliance. They provide sufficient opportunities for resolving issues of common interest in the areas of improving the preparation of selected forces for peace support operations (PSO), modernisation of command, control and information systems (C2I), and standardisation and logistics. A testimony to developing contacts of the Slovak Republic with organs of the Alliance is the successful joint events that took place since the beginning of this year. In cooperation with the Economic Committee we have organised a seminar on Democratic control of defence expenditures held in Bratislava. During May this year there was an extended plenary session of the Committee on European Airspace Coordination (CEAC) held in our territory. Repeatedly, we have accomplished in Slovakia a successful conference of military pharmacologists with the participation of 14 countries. We are glad that all three events met with an exceptional interest and response from amongst the participants of both the member and the partner countries of the Alliance. In the next period, our participation in activities that are related to enforcing the partnership will be focused on further deepening of mutual confidence and in directing our contacts, we wish to more employ the tools of self-differentiation, which the partnership has to its disposal. After concluding the successful participation of Slovak Armed Forces in UNTAES peacekeeping mission in Eastern Slavonia, in a bilateral discussion a decision was taken by appropriate organs, that Slovak Republic will send its representatives to the peace mission of the multinational forces SFOR in Bosnia and Herzegovina. We are ready to participate henceforth in the implementation of peace agreements, on consolidation of circumstances, and restoration of peace in this part of Europe. We consider the offer to send officers of the Slovak Armed Forces to the Alliance staff structures (PSE) and to Partnership Coordination Cell (PCC) to be an exceptionally significant one, particularly in terms of perspective goals of the Slovak Republic. Currently, there are 5 officers from Slovakia carrying out their tasks in those structures. The number of personnel sent is appropriate and it conforms both our needs and current resources. We assume, that this mechanism will support not only the development of partner cooperation, but that it will also contribute to intensifying the professional training of our officers for the purpose of carrying out their tasks for the case of including our units in the multinational peace forces. Slovak Armed Forces, within its participation in the Planing and Review Process (PARP), has been implementing 30 objectives. Experience confirms that the second PARP cycle requires a more comprehensive approach and that it intensifies the steps focused on the achievement of required interoperability level and increased level of preparedness of forces selected for peace operations. Consultations with Alliance expert group, held in April this year had again confirmed that one of the largest gains of participation in PARP is the possibility to consult the priorities of Slovak Armed Forces development and to jointly assess the achieved results in the area of standardisation. Slovak Republic is supportive of the planned approximation of PARP mechanisms with defence planning within the Alliance. Expected changes will enable us to react to the needs of the Slovak Armed Forces in the area of interoperability in mid-term timeframe and will enable us to focus on creation of necessary resources in sufficient advance. We suppose that the next Planning and Review Cycle will not only be touching upon selected forces of the Slovak Armed Forces but that it will become an organic part of our defence planning. A broad scale of bilateral activities with both the member countries of the Alliance and partner countries in Central European region complements participation of the Slovak Republic in the PfP program. As opposed to the preceding years, their content is becoming more focused on the problems and issues relative to carrying out the interoperability tasks. It is in the interest of the Slovak Republic to further continue the deepening of this trend.